General Care Discussion :: He bites everything! *UPDATE*

[SebastianMillhouse]

Recently my turtle has been developing a habit of biting EVERYTHING he sees. Anytime you put something against the tank he swims back and rams the glass and opens his mouth wide to snap at it. He especially likes biting your fingers.

We've been handfeeding him since we've had him and now, 3 months later he literally wants to eat your hand!

I thought maybe he's starting to associate your fingers with food and so he bites them. Could this be? Is he not getting enough food?

I don't know what to do. His bite is painful now, what's going to happen when he's full grown?

[Boogerbutt02]

My male does the same thing.... the only thing I can suggest doing is to stop hand feeding your turtle...

good luck

[SebastianMillhouse]

Here's a great video I took so you can see him trying to bite me through the glass.

Click here to watch Seb-Attacks

[ahguiturtle]

My male RES also does the same thing. Very agressive

[SebastianMillhouse]

My turtle is only 2.5" long, we don't know if it's a male yet, or does this prove it?

[SpotsMama]

My male is very bitey sometimes. When he's mad about something he bites. I try to handle him a little every day but when he hasn't been picked up for several days he trys to bite. I just always keep my fingers out of his way because he'll draw blood if he gets me.

[CountryGirl68]

My turtle does that same thing. He just thinks your finger is food, that's all. And they will always beg for food, so you have to be careful you don't overfeed them just because they are always begging.

How much are you feeding your turtle each day? You might want to throw in some romaine lettuce so he has something to munch on during the day. If you already do that, maybe he's checking things out in the tank to see if it's edible. I think it's time you stopped hand feeding the little fellow.

He's too young to tell if it's actually a "he" or a "she".

[SebastianMillhouse]

I used to give him some romaine an carrots a few times a week and then I started noticing this shiny on top of the water. I think it was from the romaine.

I'll starts that up again I think he liked it.

[SebastianMillhouse]

Breakthrough! I fed him some romaine and carrots. Instantly the biting quit. I also went out and bought some cuttlebone which he seems to like.

And I got 2 rosey minnows. He chased them around for an hour and only managed to get a bit of one's tail. He must have gotten bored with them because they swim right past him now and he doesn't care. Hopefully he builds up an appetite overnight and eats them tomorrow. They seem to quick for him to cath though.

I picked up more Reptomin food. This one has pellets, mini krill and baby shrimp.

Any suggestions on how often to offer the shrimp and krill? I was thinking one of each and two pellets per feeding twice a day.

[CountryGirl68]

Shrimp and krill shouldn't be fed daily. Maybe once a week or even once every couple of weeks, I think.

[Sparkydoodle]

My turtle is a little bitey himself. He seems to be a little defensive about his arms.